Wild Animal Sanctuary....

A few weeks ago... April 25th to be exact, I went to visit the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, CO with J.J. and her family. I never knew this place was here.  I grew up an hour away and never knew it was here!  Craziness.  Anyways, the Sanctuary started in 1980 by Pat Craig It is "the oldest and largest nonprofit Sanctuary in the US dedicated exclusively to rescuing captive exotic and endangered large carnivores, providing them with a wonderful life for as long as they live, and educating about the tragic plight faced by an estimated 30,000 such animals in America today" (quote taken from website www.wildanimalsanctuary.org )

It is a pretty cool place.  I've been to a few nonprofit sanctuaries in the past and this is definitely one of the best ones.  Check out their website for more info!  Here's some pictures from our visit:

Phase 3: Getting Moved into my New House!

Phase 3: Getting moved into my new house!  this is the last phase and I should be caught up on my blog... for the most part anyways.  :-)

I moved to Colorado, I found a job, and now I needed a place to live. I was going to live close to work so lessen my commute. I hate commuting! So I looked around in Boulder…. Wow, it is expensive! 500sqft for $1,000 month or get in a rent-a-room situation with roommates. Didn’t like those options, so starting looking around elsewhere. Turns out, it’s not much cheaper anywhere else. House prices are outrageous right now and selling for more than they are asking for in most cases. Which lead me to mobile homes/manufactured homes/trailers… whatever you want to call them.  For the same price or little cheaper, I get more space and no roommates. Sounded pretty good to me.

So I bought an over-priced mobile home…. in Firestone, CO. It’s mine and I don’t have a roommate. I could get one later if I wanted, but for right now, I’m good.  Below is my house:

Now I had house, time to move in:

Updated photos to follow later :-)

Update: Phase 2 (of 3): In Colorado, Looking for Work

I up and moved from North Carolina once I sold my house… without a potential job lined up in Colorado. I had a free place to stay in the mountains in the Poudre Canyon and enough money to last a few months so I wasn’t too worried.

The first week I was back in Colorado, I did absolutely nothing! My brother Brandon was getting married the weekend I got back so I was getting prepared for that. It was a fun small wedding in Blackhawk… a little gambling town in Colorado. They looked so beautiful together :-)

My brother Clayton works for Liberty Oil and scored great tickets to the Garth Brooks Concert! It was awesome! We had our own suite stocked with food and beer. Good times.

After the wedding weekend and Garth, I hit the ground running… went shopping for interview clothes, sent my resume everywhere I could, and talked to some staffing agencies. And the fun interviews begin....

While waiting in the mountains, my car was buried in snow! We watched a lot of movies, read, and ate… mostly popcorn. ☺

A month later I was not having much luck and was starting to worry. Then I got a call from Department of Commerce for an administrative position with NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). I interviewed with them and then waited… a few days, I received notice that I had an offer coming to me. After all the background checks and paperwork filled out, I started work on May 4th. ☺ It is a beautiful campus in foothills of Boulder.

Stay tuned for the last Update, Phase 3: Getting moved in my new house!